2019 Subaru Forester Engine Problems

While at a Stop as the engine turns off and awaits decompression of brake to turn on again vehicle moves forward bit, then the engine shuts down while in drive (stalls) had a vehicle hit me in rear but luckily I had my trailer hitch on because it saved me from body damage . I had to place in park and restart this has happened several times before and I’m kinda nervous and makes my wife nervous when stopping at lights or stop signs it might turn off in the middle of the intersection. When this occurrence happens all dash lights pop up … I checked engine with code reader after the incidents but it doesn’t give out any info on what could possibly be happening. I had the Dealership change the Thermo control module in 2025 but these occurrences has happened before and after the TCM replacement.Having the dealership check is like wasting my time and money because they aren’t able to pinpoint the cause without a code . There has to be a problem somewhere in the system it’s just that the dealership in Hawaii has no clue ..

NHTSA ID

11711684

Incident

Jun 11, 2025

Engine lost power and was misfiring while many warning symbols appeared on the dash. There was a divider separating the lanes. The car coasted to almost to a stop, but the engine chugged enough to slowly turn left at the first opening in the divider and just barely made it off the main road. The engine stopped. I restarted it several times. The engine was misfiring barely running. The electric brake was applied on its own. The car did not respond to moving the shift selector out of park, so the car was immobilized. I put the 4-way flashers on and called AAA. There seemed to be no way for me to move it out of park or release the electronic parking brake. AAA could not respond quickly and suggested I call the police to divert traffic around my car for safety which I did. The tow truck operator was able to disengage the wheels and was able to flatbed it to the nearest repair shop. This being Saturday 1/3/26 it wasn't until Tuesday the repair shop determined the car would not run long enough to provide a reliable diagnosis due to the multiple trouble codes coming up on the computer analysis. I had the car towed to the nearest Subaru dealership who replaced the thermos control valve under their warranty extension. The dealership said usually when this part fails it just triggers a check engine light and not the dangerous situation I experienced. I believe a recall to replace this part should be issued on all cars with this defective part as its failure can cause a dangerous situation without warning.

NHTSA ID

11709593

Incident

Jan 3, 2026

I have reported this before but it never went anywhere. When at a red light or in a traffic slowdown, the car will activate the auto start/stop system. Three times in the past 2 days, the car would not turn back on and required me to turn the car off and back on again. You can imagine that this leaves me in a dangerous situation because the cars behind me see a green light and get ready to move, or they see traffic clearing up and they get ready to move. I am forced to turn my car off and back on again in the middle of a 4 lane highway or on a busy city street. I get cursed at and nearly rear ended each time this happens. I did an internet search and there are entire threads dedicated to this exact problem with this subaru model and year. There should be a recall. It is very unsafe

NHTSA ID

11699899

Incident

Nov 17, 2025

About a month ago while approaching a stop light turning green at a busy intersection, I was slowing into the left turning lane when my car just stopped. No avoidance, no alerts. I had a semi behind me who started pulling out around me in heavy traffic. I could use my flashers. I turned the car off, then on and it finally restarted. This is a 2019 Subaru Forester, original owner, only one incident - but it was definitely weird, and unsafe!

NHTSA ID

11695464

Incident

Aug 21, 2025

Car has died 10+ times in the last 2 weeks. Will not hold a charge and it’s getting to the point that my car is dying in the middle of the road, during heavy traffic. That or the car will just not start unless jumped

NHTSA ID

11689526

Incident

Sep 15, 2025

At a stop light, auto stop engaged. When foot put on gas, engine died and every warning light the car has appeared on the dash board. It took several tries, but I did get the car started again. Took to dealer who confirmed the incident and replaced the starter at 38, 126 miles. The fuel pump relay was also replaced. After this incident, the cancel auto stop/start button was used most of the time when driving the car. 10 months later, forgetting to engage the cancel button, and the auto stop/start working, the car once again died at an intersection. We were able to get it restarted and it went back to the dealer. They again confirmed that the starter was faulty and once again replaced it and the fuel pump relay. This occurred at 44,770 miles. Thankfully, In both incidents, we were stopped at intersections with traffic lights. The first was in a left turn lane surrounded by cars on a hill. I was able to engage the parking brake before I rolled back into anyone. The second incident was at a flat intersection. Others were stopped around us and no one was approaching us with speed. My concern is that this will occur when waiting to make a left turn at an intersection and the car would roll forward into traffic. Another concern is if highway traffic is stopped and then starts moving again. If the car stalls and won't restart, traffic around you would go forward and traffic behind them would approach your stalled car at speed. Someone is going to be killed from this problem if they haven't been already.

NHTSA ID

11686000

Incident

Sep 30, 2024

My Subaru smelled like gas and caught on fire while I was driving to work less than 72 hours after it left the service department at the local Subaru dealership. Earlier that week I dropped the car off for service due to a check engine light and multiple other warning lights on the dashboard. The check engine light was determined to be due to a faulty thermo control valve (a known issue on several models of 2019-2021 Subarus). During that service appointment, the thermo control valve was replaced under warranty, the 60000 mile service, state inspection, and an oil change/tire rotation were completed. The morning of the incident, the car smelled like gas, but there were no warning lights on the dashboard and the temperature and gas gauges were all in range. While looking for a safe place to pull over on the side of the road, the gas smell worsened, I heard a pop, the check engine light and every single other light on the dashboard lit up, it smelled like burning jet fuel, and the front of the car was smoking and there were flames, and all mechanical and electrical control of the vehicle was compromised. The car coasted to the side of the right lane. I was unable to operate the gear shift to put the car in park. I opened the driver’s side door, removed my seatbelt, grabbed my backpack, lunch bag, and phone, and exited the vehicle while it was still rolling. I ran around the back of the car to get onto the side walk. Flaming, melting pieces of plastic were coming off the bottom of the car. Flames and smoke were visible on the front hood of the car. I called 911 while the car continued to roll across several lanes onto the other side of the road. The burning car rolled and hit a guardrail on the opposite side of the road and continued to burn until the local Fire Department arrived on scene. Local police and the fire inspector wrote reports. My insurance declared the car a total loss. I have informed the local dealership and worked to get them access to the vehicle.

NHTSA ID

11681834

Incident

Jul 27, 2025

During severe stop/go, thick, holiday traffic on I-495 (DC Beltway), during daylight hours, once AGAIN (this has happened several times before), the auto engine shutoff feature catastrophically malfunctioned, turning the car off, and simultaneously, activated the entirety of the dashboard to flash on/off, causing nearly every indicator light to come on, and then had difficulty restarting. This has been brought to Subaru's attention multiple times and they essentially have washed their hands of it and stating since they can't duplicate it, it essentially must not be occurring and they cannot repair it.

NHTSA ID

11663006

Incident

May 24, 2025

My car is a 2019 suaru forester 54,268mi I was driving from Houston to Dallas on the freeway during a thunderstorm on [XXX] [XXX]. I got off the freeway and was almost on the road near my house when my car engine suddenly died, I had no control of my car, my car engine would not start anymore. I had no problems with my car before. I towed it home the next day and had it checked with a scanner and it came up with about 25 check engine codes. 5/14/2025 Subaru dealer (ewing of plano) had it checked and had the thermo control valve replaced because it was bad. They had no previous notices or recalls. If my car had stopped in the middle of the freeway it could have been a major accident..other people's lives are important..please look into this issue INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11661586

Incident

Apr 30, 2025

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, there was white smoke coming from the exhaust pipes. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the engine PCV had failed, causing catastrophic damage to the engine. The contact was advised that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed that the vehicle was previously serviced under NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V856000 (ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING); and the engine was replaced as part of the recall repair. The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced the failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 122,000.

NHTSA ID

11659321

Incident

May 6, 2025

Mileage

122,000 mi

Auto start/stop shut off engine at drive thru line. Locked up brakes and could not get it to unlock and restart car. It has happened on a number of occasions. After multiple attempts trying and letting it sit for a couple of hours, somehow got it to unlock and start. Thank goodness we haven’t gotten into an accident

NHTSA ID

11652823

Incident

Apr 4, 2025

When I first noticed that my car wasn’t heating properly, it was in May 20 24 when I purchased the car and Carvana dropped it off to my place of residency. When I notified someone of this issue, they told me it probably just needed coolant. I did as instructed and noticed that I was adding in coolant frequently. On February 19, 2025 I returned home one evening and noticed that smoke coming from my car and coolant was leaking from underneath. I called roadside assistance in order to get my car towed and into service at the Subaru dealership. After inspection, the mechanic noticed that there was oil inside the coolant suggesting that there may be an issue with the head gaskets then warned me not to drive my car because there could be further issue with the engine as a result of the head gasket being blown.

NHTSA ID

11644640

Incident

Feb 19, 2025

When I break and stop the car power is reduced, at times it stalls out and be hard to start again when starting back up in traffic. This is also starting to happen in my other Forrester of the same year.

NHTSA ID

11630302

Incident

Dec 11, 2024

While driving, the engine stalled and many dash lights came on. The thermo control valve was the cause. There was no warning and fortunately I was able to park off of the roadway. The car was towed to the nearest Subaru dealership at a cost of $223.00. The car was repaired under the extended warranty, but I am out the towing fee. Had the defective part been recalled, I would not have experienced this engine failure.

NHTSA ID

11614894

Incident

Sep 12, 2024

On [XXX], while driving back home in the evening, the car started to make noises, that became quite loud very fast. I was able to drive to my home, less than 3 miles away, but I could not restart the car anymore. No warning lights were on. It was around [XXX] pm and I was afraid of what might have happened it the car became disabled. The next morning, the car was towed to the MileOne Herb Gordon Subaru Dealer in Silver Spring, MD. I was informed that the rod crankshaft bearing had failed. The engine short block had to be replaced. It is unbelievable to me that a car that had less than 58,000 miles and have been properly maintained will have such a catastrophic failure. The cost to fix this failure: $10676.39 since it is out of warranty for time. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11610367

Incident

Aug 6, 2024

My SUBARU has a Start-Stop feature which automatically stops and restarts the engine when the vehicle is stationary for a short time, such as at a stop sign or red light. Several times within the last month I was stopped for a light or stop sign and the vehicle shut down completely. Engine turned off. I have attached a file showing the display on the dash. This was very unsafe as cars behind me were getting impatient while I had to figure out how to restart the car. It was very scary. After researching the problem online and taking the car to my mechanic it turns out that the battery was low. The battery was replaced and auto restart is working correctly now. It seems that with all the warning messages that are displayed (windshield washer fluid is low) that some indicator that the battery is low should display rather than this unsafe scenario.

NHTSA ID

11609740

Incident

Aug 1, 2024

Cracked exhaust manifold for no apparent reason. I live in Florida, which does not have extreme temperature fluctuations. It caused toxic fumes to leak into the cabin, confirmed by Subaru tech and handheld carbon monoxide detector.

NHTSA ID

11608427

Incident

Dec 1, 2023

See attached document for complaint

NHTSA ID

11607939

Incident

Apr 19, 2024

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the vehicle started hesitating while depressing the accelerator pedal with the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact activated the hazard lights and coasted the vehicle off to the shoulder. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to a local dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective thermal control valve. The contact was informed that the thermal valve was covered under an Extended Warranty by the manufacturer. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a case was filed. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

NHTSA ID

11600457

Incident

Jul 7, 2024

Mileage

30,000 mi

The auto stop/start function is erratic. Many times the function fails to start the car after a stop. The car stalls. It requires car to put in park and have to restart the car. This causes delay for traffic to move. When this happens, it creates a safety issue. The car behind may start to move and cause accident because the rest of the traffic has started to move. Sometimes the car driver behind you honks the horn as the rest of the traffic starts to move. The 2019 Subaru Forester has only 31000 miles. This has been happening once a week since June 2023. It is becoming a safety concern for me. This started to happen around 25000 miles on the car.

NHTSA ID

11593804

Incident

Jun 11, 2024

I have had multiple issues with my car for the past month. First, my rear right wheel has been making a fan-like sound when going above 35mph and it gets louder until 70mph. It is most likely the wheel bearings going out but, I only have around 50,000 miles on the car. This seems to be a common issue with Foresters. Secondly, my rear Harman Kardon speakers have stopped working. This also appears to be a recurring issue with Forester's, with both their standard and premium sound systems. Lastly, my engine check light turned on and shut off my adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, emergency braking, and rear automatic braking. I'm surprised that these issues are still happening to Subaru since they have been complained about by consumers for years.

NHTSA ID

11592555

Incident

Jun 4, 2024

The contact owns a 2019 Subaru Forester. The contact stated that while his son was driving at approximately 60 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact's son stated that the vehicle was emitting smoke from the exhaust pipe. The contact stated that his son pulled off the highway and stopped the vehicle and had the vehicle towed to the dealer. The dealer diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the positive crankcase ventilation valve (PCV) had separated and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact was advised by the dealer that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V856000 (Engine and Engine Cooling) which was already completed on the vehicle. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

NHTSA ID

11592376

Incident

May 13, 2024

Mileage

130,000 mi

most of the safety quiet. motor cut out, eyesight quiet working, check engine light came on service person said the diagnostic showed a code p2682 engine coolant bypass valve control low. steering light came on. No prior warnings. happened while driving at speed limit on interstate.

NHTSA ID

11591360

Incident

May 10, 2024

Engine failed without warning while driving on a busy highway on 4/20/2024. The engine suddenly stopped and tried to automatically restart itself only to immediately shut down, simultaneously dashboard lit up with multiple warning lights ( eyesight disabled, check engine light, RAB off, brake light etc). No power to the car with inability to accelerate. My husband driving the vehicle was able to maneuver the car over 2 lanes in heavy traffic to the rumble strip between 4 lane highway and a 2 lane acceleration entrance ramp. We came within seconds of being hit which could have been a very serious accident. Since the car had no power we weren't even able to get to the right shoulder. We had to sit in the vehicle over 2 1/2 hours waiting for a tow surrounded by high speed traffic on both sides. The cause of engine failure was a defective Thermo Control Valve, diagnostic code P26A6. Subaru recently issued an extended warranty in April for the TCV which is present in many of its vehicles. It should be a RECALL and not just an extension of the warranty since failure can be quite serious resulting in the engine completely shutting down. We had NO previous warning that the car was at risk for unexpected stopping. Car is well maintained with only 34,608 miles (2019 model) and had been in the shop the DAY before the incident getting routine car service. The service manager knew what the problem was by description before even performing the necessary interrogation for diagnostic codes. He was able to get the vehicle to start and drive it into the dealer repair shop by simply removing the TCV before starting. We were the 3rd vehicle in that day for replacement of TCV. He stated they replace 5-10 a week although most present with a check engine light and some with other warnings such as eyesight disabled. The factory original TCV has been replaced with a reportedly revised TCV. Risk of engine failure without warning as result of faulty TCV is putting lives at risk.

NHTSA ID

11585515

Incident

Apr 20, 2024

The check engine light went on and the diagnostic code read was P26A3, Engine Coolant Bypass Valve is failing in my 2019 Forester, which only has 46,000 miles on it. Subaru was aware that this part was defective in the 2019-2021 models, because in Feb of 2022 the part was replaced and a service bulletin 09-80-21 was issued with instruction for replacing the part, but did not issue a recall, despite this problem causing the advanced safety features to stop working and directly affecting the proper functioning of the engine. My car is just out of warranty, and the quote to have my mechanic replace the part is almost $1200 which I am unable to afford and do not feel I should have to pay for. Subaru should be help to account for this issue.

NHTSA ID

11582861

Incident

Apr 2, 2024